As Altera releases new versions of our design software, we work to add support for additional features in existing FPGA devices, add support for new devices, maximize the efficiency and performance of these devices, and improve the compilation time and resource use of the design software itself.
These changes from version to version produce improved programming files that improve the performance and/or capability of the FPGA device, which is why different versions of the design software produce different programming files. This applies to the Quartus® Prime Pro edition software, the Quartus® Prime Standard edition software and the Quartus® Prime Lite edition software.
This information is updated in 20.1 and later release notes of the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Programmer, the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Design Compilation and in the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Help.